As we close out the month of August in Eastern Iowa

The right decision ... cut your loses as Roy Marble is terminated ...

Former Hawkeye Roy Marble loses youth post after arrest - The Gazette
Former University of Iowa Basketball star Roy Marble has been terminated from his ...

We need help in Cedar Rapids post-Flood Gov. Chet ...

Fong wants Culver to make some noise - The Gazette

A New York Times progress report on flood recovery in Cedar Rapids caused a ripple in the 2010 race for governor. After reading the Times’ story -- “After Iowa flood, feeling just a bit ignored,” Cedar Rapids Republican Christian Fong criticized Gov. Chet Culver’s comment that Iowa was “not making a lot of noise” about the flood that caused an estimated $8 billion damage across the state and as much as $6 million damage in Cedar Rapids-Linn ...

Federal Stimulus funds are not hitting the local market as well as elsewhere ...

Linn County coming up short in federal stimulus funds - The Gazette
Just like in real estate, location appears to be key to cashing in on the federal stimulus program. Take Monona County in western Iowa, for example. It’s home to 8,966 people who own 16,383 vehicles — cars, trucks, trailers, buses and mo-peds. Of the $47,035,324 Monona County is getting from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $46,333,400 is from the federal Department of Transportation for road projects. Linn County, where 208,574 people live and own 254,000 vehicles, already has spent its $962,000 ...

Yes, even Firefighters will have to get off the streets for MDA ...

Cedar Rapids panhandling ordinance passes first reading - The Gazette
Beggars on Blairs Ferry Road will soon be a thing of the past. A new ordinance, approved unanimously by the City Council Wednesday night, would outlaw panhandling on the city’s right of way, or soliciting money from anyone in a motor vehicle. The new ordinance will apply even to firefighters raising money with boots in the street for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Aggressive panhandling would also be forbidden. Beggars who won’t take no for an answer, touch the people they ask for money, ...

peace

State Spending outpaces State Revenues in most States

No sooner had state lawmakers around the country gone home after spending
months plugging ...

The Monday, August 31, 2009 edition of The Washington Times features a story titled, State, local services hit as revenues fall. For more on the importance of cutting taxes to raise revenue, read Public Interest Institutes's brief titled, Historical success of tax cuts.

Other reviews of state spending vs. state revenues across the USA.

Conn. and Pa. state budgets still in limbo -The Associated Press
Erik Arneson, a spokesman for the Senate Republicans in Pennsylvania, frames the debate as a choice between cutting spending to match revenues, ...
What Now for State Budget? - Industrial Laser Solutions
Pennsylvania lawmakers begin to make concessions to pass budget ... - The Patriot-News

Mo. cuts $7 million from tourism budget -Bizjournals.com

Missouri has had to cut spending and lay off workers as tax revenue dropped and shoppers pulled back on spending. The state expects nearly $7.4 billion in ...
Your letters, Aug. 30, 2009 - St. Joseph News-Press

It's time to bring back the virtue of limited spending.

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Do you agree with the following suggesting from a friend?

A friend passed on the following quote recently ...

My friend commented: "This is probably the five best sentences you'll ever read. This is one paragraph that should be in every book, in every school room, in every city, in every state, in our great Union. Our educators should make a lesson plan on this one statement and beat these words into every head, in every class, in every state, in these United States of America."

Profound short paragraph:

“You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy
out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another
person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to
anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because
the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets
the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get
what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of
any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." - Adrian
Rogers

Another famous quote from Adrian Rogers is

"You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

peace

Choice is important, whether it be Health Care or our K-12 systems of Edcuation in the USA

Choice is important in both Health Care and in Education in the USA.

The consumer is often best protected when there is competition in the marketplace and options for the consumer to select.

The Friday, August 28, 2009 edition of USA Today features a story titled, L.A. school board OKs school choice plan with private operators. For more on the issue of school choice, read the Public Interest Institutes's brief titled School Choice in America and Iowa: The Time for Change is Now.

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Is Limited Spending a concept that has been forgotten?

A good read is from By Ken Washer, DBA, CFA, Associate Professor of Finance at Creighton University.

Earning, Saving and Giving: Have We Lost Our Way? - Creighton University Magazine

The Christian theologian and founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, preached: “Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” He encouraged hard work in “honest industry,” along with limited spending. Wesley argued that to not use your money to support a good cause is to simply “throw it away.” ...

The Wednesday, August 26, 2009 edition of The Washington Post features a story titled, "Deficit Projected To Soar With New Programs." For more on the issue read, "Cutting Federal Spending Must Be a Top Priority."

Limited Government is a formula for success. It starts with limiting government spending.

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What's up on the Health Care discussion: VA pamblet and Budget Strains

Page 21 is a bit creepy. I'm not defending or complaining at this point. I'm
just saying why are enough people concerned that the VA book was pulled from the .gov website and we're hearing that section is being removed from HR3200? ...I finally found the book online (thanks Deb) - and I kept a copy. - A person on Facebook wrote

Your Life, Your Choices -www.docstoc.com
Your Life Your Choices Planning for Future Medical Decisions: How to Prepare a Personalized Living Will Your Life Your Choices Planning for Future Medical Decisions: How to Prepare a Personalized Living Will Authored ...

The Monday, August 24, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal features a story titled, Budget pain spreads to energy-rich states. For more on economic recovery policy ideas, read Institute Brief: The American Option.

In the State of Iowa, newcomer Christian Fong, the Western Iowa native, who is a businessman here in Cedar Rapids, released his first radio advertisement that was critical towards the use of bonds by the current governor. In speaking engagements, Fong often speaks about the dangers of generational debt.

“As governor I would end the use of taxpayer money to fund lobbyists and
veto any budget that is not balanced.” - Christian Fong

Fong begins statewide radio ad campaign; Dems cry ‘foul’ - The Gazette CEDAR RAPIDS – Republican gubernatorial hopeful Christian Fong is on the airwaves with a statewide radio campaign. ...

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What's local in Cedar Rapids: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Cedar Rapids airport commissioners go green with netbook computers - The Gazette
The Eastern Iowa Airport is using technology to replace reams of paper, the latest in a series of green moves. ...

Sorry, but how are accrued property tax calculations considered quirky? The system hasn't changed over, forever ...

Cedar Rapids leaders: We were wrong on tax abatement period - The Gazette
We got it wrong.
That was the message out of City Hall on Thursday after city officials acknowledged that a council decision this week to recommend a partial abatement of property taxes for flood victims was premised on a faulty understanding of a quirky basic of local government — property taxes. ...

A look back at August 2006, when our first City Manager arrived in Cedar Rapids.

"I'm not coming in here to run the show. I play a role. My role isn't more
important than anyone else in this organization." - City Manager Jim Prosser

Jim Prosser's Plan for Cedar Rapids KCRG-TV9 Cedar Rapids, Iowa ... - KCRG
CEDAR RAPIDS -- Jim Prosser is now Cedar Rapids first City Manager. ...

It would be interesting to poll how people look at the City Manager's role in the City of Cedar Rapids today or even before the Flood of 2008.

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